In an attempt to stick to our movie-related New Years resolutions, Jess and I plan to keep a weekly record of our progress towards our goal. See if we hit our goal this week and what movies we watched. You can also check out our initial resolutions post here.
My big goal this year is to watch three types of movies a week:
- 1 New Movie (anything that has come out in the last 3-4 months)
- 1 Movie From My Netflix Queue (it has to be from the list I cemented in stone at the beginning of 2014 to count)
- 1 Movie I’ve Been Meaning to Rewatch
Lets take a look at what was watched this past week.
New Movies:
- Straight Outta Compton – Pretty by-the-numbers but still an entertaining watch. I thought the casting was phenomenal and it was a refreshing story to see on film. Could’ve been better and there’s certainly a darker version of this story that’s closer to the truth, but still a good movie.
- The Gift – Saw after the hype had been built a bit and I still dug it. I thought there would be more action, but it actually was more interesting that it took a more psychological angle. Kudos Edgerton!
- American Ultra – I agree with Lindsay’s review. It feels like almost a Natural Born Killers or True Romance-lite, with a heavier focus on romance and action than humor. Could’ve been a little tweaked and that much better.
Re-watched:
- Scream 3 – Continuing my Scream rewatch. I am not even sure I had actually seen this all the way through from start to finish now that I’ve watched it. I didn’t remember much. It’s not really bad, but much weaker than the first two. Parker Posey makes it worth watching though.
- Best In Show – Speaking of Posey! That woman is amazing. I had an even greater appreciation this time around compared to watching it in my younger years. Really funny and smart and kooky. I tried watching For Your Consideration the next day and couldn’t get into it though.
- Wayne’s World – Bonus! I love this movie. I never had a true appreciation til I watched this for the first time in forever last summer, and now I think this has to be worked into my regular rewatching habits.
Off the Queue:
- Stardust – I’d heard some nice thoughts about this throughout the years, but I was mostly intrigued to see Matthew Vaugh’s odd-movie-out in his filmography. It’s cute and fanciful, but I could not connect. The love story didn’t even get to me and I’m a sucker for romance.
New Movies:
- Faults – I just missed this and the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the Maryland Film Festival earlier this year so I have been eager to check it out ever since. Unfortunately, this did not live to the expectations I had. After getting past the confusing tone of the film, I found the rest of the beats fairly routine and not terribly exciting.
- Minions – I saw this with my niece & nephew and was a little shocked at how bored I was. I know kids films aren’t up my alley but I found this one to be boooooorrrrring.
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – I was never a huge fan of Spongebob (at least not as much as it seemed like everyone else was) but I thought this movie was a lot of fun. It was again, another watch with the little ones but I was laughing a lot more than with the previous film.
Re-watched:
- Eastern Promises – Rewatched this for an upcoming episode the podcast and enjoyed again. Check out out my full thoughts on the episode out tomorrow.
Off the Queue:
- Mud – I had put this off for some time as I worried the initial praise the film was receiving was bolstered by the McConaughnaissance. I finally sat down with this a sleepy Saturday morning and loved it. It’s a bit long but has great performances and a cool look to it that I was smitten with. Whether the delayed viewing helped or not, I can’t be sure.
- Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead – It’s not terrible but it’s also not good. On one hand you have an interesting cast of characters, Andy Garcia’s hair in its prime and a boatload of style but on the other hand, there are just way too many plot holes and sub stories happening that its hard to really buy into any of it. It’s like a bastard son of The Usual Suspects and Goodfellas.
- Simon Killer – I had to watch this thing in fucking installments over the course of one Sunday afternoon … and its only an hour & 45 minutes long! At first, I was digging it. There was a sense of unease, interesting performances and some coy camerawork. Then when I thought the movie was coming to a climax I realized I was only 25 minutes in! It felt like a lifetime had gone by! If you do plan to watch this, it’s about 40 minutes of setup then the rest of the movie is the conflict. The ending doesn’t exactly save it either.